Chapter 4
Fourth Bone: "The Ogre in Silent Hill: The Hill Where Ogres Live" is the fourth chapter of [[Manga|the manga B. Ichi]]. It was collected as part of Volume 2. Featured Appearances Plot Fear Factory Hideout A man is pinned to the wall of an industrial room with knives through his arms. His peers are collapsed around him, whether dead or simply disabled. While Apple Shinoda knocks back another of the men, Enime asks Lin Kinpar how much longer he has to perform his bad deed for the day. Lin answers 30 minutes. This information makes Enime remember why he performs such "foolish" bad deeds: if he does not, he will lose his friendship with Shotaro, "what's most precious to me." The man pinned to the wall warns Enime that if he kills him, then "the other guys won't be quiet about it." Enime promises to "silence" anyone, including the pinned man. As Enime performs Guilty Blade, even as his victim screams from the fatal attack, Enime's mind is only on Shotaro. Enime announces that his daily bad deed is completed. Silent Hill Mana explains that she has left Toykyo along with Shotaro in Yohei Nanami's Jeep to travel to I. C. Prefecture in the Tube Region. The trip was to take four days total, and they are only now just approaching Mt. Fooji in Silent Hill. Mana goes on to explain that Silent Hill is also known as "the Hill Where Ogres Live." While Shotaro insults her by saying "there's gonna be a lot of Mana-sans there," Mana adds that in Silent Hill ogres and humans get along. Yohei tries to mitigate Shotaro's insult by saying that, although he has not seen one, most Ogres, although large, tend to be gentle. But Shotaro then insults Mana again, saying "gentle" is the opposite of her--which earns him another punch in the face. Shotaro changes the topic by asking Mana whether they will meet ogres. She smiles and says if they are lucky. Now Yohei is annoyed, wondering why he has to drive the two children to Tube Region. Shotaro explains using his Bone of the Bird technique would be "loony," while Mana reminds Yohei that he destroyed her scooter. Mana then goes on to complain that she spent so much money on that scooter, which she could have spent instead on clothes. Annoyed by her rambling, Yohei knocks Mana in the head with his handgun and threatens to shoot her. Annoyed, Mana says she will remember Yohei's insult. Yohei asks why the duo want to go to IC Prefecture. Mana explains that, as the prefecture has the largest information center in Japon, its database should provide helpful information to find Shotaro's friend Eneme. Mana also opens her guidebook, Tournament Groove, which lists numerous competitions for her to win commendations. Yohei then warns the duo that, as soon as they arrive in IC, they should not jump out of the car, especially after Shotaro took flight into and out of it the last time they rode together. But Yohei also thinks to himself how absurd it is that someone like him is taking a trip with a Dokeshi like Shotaro. Silent Hill Campground As it is getting late, Yohei pulls over at the Silent Hill campground to rest for the night. Annoyed with Shotaro, Yohei instructs him to play by himself while he and Mana set up their tent and prepare their meal. Later, Yohei's barbecue announces it has finished. While Yohei continues to type on his laptop while Mana says she will get Shotaro before their meal gets cold. Silent Hill Forest Meanwhile, Shotaro is chasing an animal, resembling a rabbit with one horn in the middle of its forehead. Having bitten Bone of the Frog, Shotaro hops after the creature, telling it to stop. When the rabbit-like creature does so, Shotaro is confused, wondering why it looks frightened. Shotaro turns around to see a large gurgling creature towering above him. swallowed by Goby Frog]] After Mana calls to Shotaro, she sees he has returned--his legs hanging out the mouth of a towering goby frog before he is swallowed. Shocked, Mana punches and kicks the frog's face. The frog's eyes widened, as its stomach begins to rustle. Mana hears Shotaro call to him, but she does not see him. Shotaro then appears behind the frog--having used Bone of the Snake to crawl out the frog's anus. Mana stops Shotaro from telling the story of how he passed through the frog's intestines, while the frog looks concerned. Shotaro slithers towards Mana. His serpentine appearance and the fact that he slid out a frog's anus causes horns to grow from Mana's hat in anger. She throws a rock at Shotaro and tells the unclean boy to stay away. Afraid of Mana's anger, Shotaro sadly returns to the frog's backside, sticking his head back to its anus to go back inside. Mana tells Shotaro to stop. While Shotaro goes to a nearby pond to clean himself, Mana pets the frog, wondering why a usually peaceful animal would attack a person. Assuming the frog must be hungry, Mana tells the frog to come to her campsite for a meal. Silent Hill Campground Returning to the campground, Mana is shocked to see that Yohei finished the food--cooking it and eating all of it. While Yohei compliments Mana’s cooking (and she blushes in acknowledgement of the compliment), she is shocked he could eat food that was to serve three people. Mana then knocks Yohei in the head and turns to apologize to the frog--and finding the hungry amphibian has swallowed Shotaro again. Although annoyed, Mana is too angry to continue yelling. Mana is then distracted by an elderly local farmer yelling at an gore for ruining his field. In the chances of seeing an ogre for the first time, Mana and Shotaro (still inside the frog) approach the elderly man to ask what has happened. Annoyed, the elderly farmer throws his sickle at the teenagers, which smacks Shotaro in his face. But the elderly farmer, admiring Mana as pretty, takes her hands to apologize for his goby frog consuming Shotaro. Embarrassed, Mana assures that she is not injured, while Yohei and Shotaro refer to the elderly farmer as “nasty,” both mean-spirited and perverted. The elderly farmer explains that he grows tea but an “ogre brat” named Kisuke wrecks his field until he is unable to sell to market and has been unable to feed his hungry goby frog. While Kisuke has been kind before, after his parents were killed by poachers for their horns, Kisuke is lashing out. The elderly farmer managed to retrieve the horns of Kisuke’s father, to return these remains to the son, but Kisuke has refused to open up to humans. Kisuke’s Hill Isolating himself, Kisuke looks at the necklace around his neck. He remembers the last moments he had with his parents. He had asked his father to stay to finish making their necklace. But his parents had to leave to help humans in the local town finish construction. His father had promised to return to finish the necklace, but humans killed his father. Silent Hill Campground The elderly farmer agrees that humans are awful: he lived alone, but he was close to Kisuke’s family. He was as friendly with Kisuke’s mother as he was with Mana (and likely other women). While sympathetic with Kisuke, the elderly farmer intends to teach the ogre a lesson. Shotaro, still inside the frog’s mouth, has an idea. He requests the horn of Kisuke’s father. The elderly farmer, thinking Kisuke will never accept the horn, agrees, tossing it to the ground. Mana picks it up as Shotaro explains he will need Mana and Yohei’s help. Yohei realizes that, if the horn is made out of calcium, then Shotero can use his Bone Powers as if using a bone. Yohei sits back, thinking how he has the chance to witness “the power of the Kyokotsu.” Kisuke’s Hill Kisuke remembers how the elderly farmer would tease him as being “Tiny-Suke,” even though he was only younger, not shorter, than the elderly man. Kisuke shakes the memory out of his head. Kisuke stands takes hold of his club, ready to terrorize the elderly farmer again. Elderly Man's Tea Farm That night, Kisuke returns again to the elderly man's farm and again clubs the land. The farmer arms himself with his scythe--until he is interrupted by hooded person who approaches Kisuke. It is Mana, pretending to be a traveling spiritual medium. While outwardly stoic, inwardly Mana is giddy at getting to play-act. But she is interrupted by the elderly farmer, who is attracted to her beauty. Lustful, the farmer compares her to something out of Harry Potter or like Teru-Teru Bouzu. Mana punches out the elderly farmer and continues speaking to Kisuke. She explains that Kisuke's father is upset with the son's actions and has come from Heaven to speak with him. Kisuke, distrustful of humans, refuses to believe any medium could summon a spirit. Mana feels upset at this accusation, but someone else interrupts to demand Kisuke apologize to them. Mana directs Kisuke to look behind him, where he sees in the shadows the spirit of his father. When Kisuke still does not believe his father's spirit has returned, the spirit remembers how he promises to help Kisuke finish making his necklace. "No parent should try to trick his on," the spirit says, and apologizing for failing to keep his promise. The spirit goes on to lecture Kisuke not to harm the elderly farmer, as Kisuke knows he is a kind man. Kisuke is still upset that humans killed his father. The spirit moves out of the shadow, revealing the face of an ogre, to tell Kisuke to trust the old man. Kisuke is not sure the elderly farmer will forgive him. Upset, the elderly farmer says a child, even an ogre child, is hardly that much trouble. The elderly man then reveals he has had a bed set aside for Kisuke ever since his parents' deaths and welcomes him to live on the farm. Kisuke, sobbing, apologizes, as the elderly man smiles and covers his ears against the ogre's loud cries. While Kisuke and the elderly farmer are distracted, the spirit of the father begins to huff. Yohei appears from behind the spirit, revealing that he has been using a fog machine to hide the spirit's actual identity, Shotaro, who bit the father's horn to initiate Bone of the Ogre. As Shotaro struggles to breathe from the powers of the Ogre, and from having the horn in his mouth, Yohei asks why he put so much effort into calming Kisuke. Shotaro says he has a friend who, like Kisuke, does bad deeds, hence can understand the importance of helping someone even if they behave badly. Yohei is then surprised to see Shotaro collapse. Mana returns to find Yohei, smoking, and crouched over the unconscious Shotaro. Yohei puts Shotaro on his back to take back to camp. Yohei explains to Mana that, in biting the Bone of the Ogre, Shotaro absorbed not only the father's powers but also his memories and personality. As Yohei hands the father's horn to Mana to return to Kisuke, she asks why Yohei knows so much about Dokeshi. Yohei simply answers that he's a genius. As Shotaro falls to sleep, he promises that, having saved Kisuke, he will save Emine too. Fear Factory, Vice President's Office Behind the facade of the Happy Factory, an electronic manufacture, a dog-faced man named Dr. Agei enters the Vice President's office with an update regarding Emine's attacks on their hideouts. In this latest report, it seems Emine is fighting the Masked Assembly himself, rather than depending on only his underlings. Concerned, Agei asks whether the Vice President has control over the situation. Annoyed, the Vice President, Rodigy, complains that Agei's repeated concern is like having his circuit breaker trip--actually causing some electricity to generate off his body. With so much electricity coming off of him, the office is bright--even as the Vice President complains that the room is dark. Agei then asks the Vice President whether he has yet retrieved Yohei's control chip for the Fear Robot. The Vice President reassures Agei that they are simply waiting for the King of Spin to arrive. Fear Factory, Fear Robot Plant In the Factory's manufacturing facility, Nofix smiles upon seeing the Fear Robot. Trivia *Locations in this chapter allude to real-world locations. **The name Tube Region is a pun on Honshu, the main island of Japan: in Japanese, "tube" is pronounced "chuubu." While Honshu has the Aichi Prefecture, Japon in B. Ichi has the I. C. Prefecture.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2 English eBook, Pages 8, 189 **The name I. C. Prefecture is a pun on Aichi Prefecture, located near the center of Japan's main island of Honshu. **Mt. Fooji is pronounced the same as the real-world location Mt. Fuji. Whereas Mt. Fuji is written with the characters for "rich" (or "abundant") and "samurai" (or "gentleman"), Mt. Fooji is written with the characters for "no" and "death," therefore translating as "immortal." **Silent Hill alludes to two real-world locations, both named Shizuoka: the prefecture in Chuubu and the capital city of that prefecture. The real-world Shizuoka is written with the characters for "silent hill." Whereas the real-world Shizuoka is located in Chuubu, Japan, the fictional Silent Hill is located near I. C. Prefecture in Japon. Silent Hill is also the name of a popular video game franchise. *In the Yen Press English translation, Shotaro says, "It'd be totally loony to try to fly there on loons!" In the original Japanese, Shotaro says, "It would be bakabakashii (ridiculous) to ride there on horses and deer." The characters for the words "horse" and "deer" both appear twice in the word "bakabakashii."B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2 English eBook, Pages 9, 189 *In the Yen Press English translation, Yohei says of the Elderly Farmer, "His nasty attitude sure changed!" Shotaro replies, "Now he's nasty in a different way!" In the original Japanese, Yohei says, the Elderly Farmer is "erai" ("great, big, terrible"), while Shotaro ays he is "eroi" ("pornographic").B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2 English eBook, Pages 17, 189 *Kisuke's name means "boy ogre": "Ki" means "ogre," "-suke" is the typical ending for a boy's name.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2 English eBook, Pages 20, 189 *The Elderly Farmer's nickname for Kisuke is "Tiny-suke," or "chibisuke," replacing the first part of his name with "chibi" ("tiny, puny, small").B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2 English eBook, Pages 23, 189 *A teruteru bouzu ("shiny Buddhist priest") is a doll made of paper or cloth, hung out as a charm to bring good weather or to prevent rain.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2 English eBook, Pages 25, 189 *Emine's name alludes to the United States rapper Eminem.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2 English eBook, Pages 33, 189 *Fear Factory alludes to a United States metal band of the same name.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 2 English eBook, Pages 35, 189 *Dr. Agei's name alludes to United States rock band Rage Against the Machine. *The IC Prefecture Information Center has computers that have underneath their screens buttons and directional pads, making the computers resemble Game Boys, the handheld video game system first released by Nintendo in the 1990s. Some of the buttons' layouts closely resemble the original gamepads used for the Nintendo Entertainment System (released in Japan as the Famicom). Connections to Okubo's Later Works *This chapter introduces the Vice President of Fear Factory, Rodigy. His distinctive haircut--a shaved head save for two branches of hair on each side of the head, each resembling a lightning bolt--would be used later in Soul Eater as the "Two Pillars" haircut for Ox Ford. Whereas Rodigy has lightning powers, Ox is also known as the Lightning King, wielding the electrifying demon weapon staff Harvar D. Éclair. References Category:Chapters Category:Shotaro/Appearance Category:Mana Hinoki/Appearance Category:Yohei Nanami/Appearance Category:Emine/Appearance Category:Apple Shinoda/Appearance Category:Lin-Kimper/Appearance Category:Elderly Farmer/Appearance Category:Kisuke/Appearance Category:Kisuke's Father/Appearance Category:Kisuke's Mother/Appearance Category:Goby Frog/Appearance Category:Rodigy/Appearance Category:Dr. Agei/Appearance Category:Nofix/Appearance